Link staggered to his feet and stumbled forwards, desperate to get to Saria. The wound in his back sent him falling to his knees in pain, but he continued, crawling over to his friend. He saw Esco lying on the ground, flickering, wings flapping franticly, writhing in a shared pain. Link scooped her up and managed to drag himself to Saria. Her face had almost gone completely white, and her breathing was sharp and desperate. Her eye's were failing her, yet they still managed to lock onto Link as he approached, and she seemed to mouth a silent word.

"No." He whispered. "No, Saria, no- It's alright, it's alright, I'm here!" With his free hand, he reach out and wrapped his fingers around her own, finding them cold. "It'll be fine, I promise, I swear to the goddesses-" His eyes wandered to the spear sticking out of her back and gagged. "Oh goddesses." Gingerly he reached out, then recoiled right before he touched it. I can't pull it out, He thought. She'll bleed out, and her organs… He turned to her. "It's alright, I'm here Saria, I'm right-" Suddenly, the was struck in the jaw and thrown across the ground, and he kept Esco to his chest to protect her while rolling. When he came to a stop, he looked up to see the Moblin looming over Saria, glaring at him, with one eye pale and unresponsive. Link managed to bring himself to his feet and hid the twitching Esco into the pocket in his hat.

"Damn you…" Link hissed. "Get away from her, now!"

The moblin snarled and gripped the spear, causing Saria to gasp in shock, and it dawned on Link what the monster was about to do.

"Wait, stop!" He pleaded. "Don't touch that!" But it was pointless. The moblin tried to pull their weapon, but it remained stuck in Saria, forcing a sob of pain out of her. Link charged forwards desperately, but he could never have crossed the distance soon enough. The moblin pressed a foot against Saria's back and placed both hands around the shaft of the spear. Then, it twisted the weapon. Saria shrieked in pain as blood spurted from her body, loosening the weapon until, with a final twist, the weapon tore itself from Saria's body, forcing a final, shrill scream out of Saria, before she went limp, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Saria!" Link howled, his steps faltering, and he felt panic begin to build up inside him. "No! This isn't how it happens!" His arm trembled as he gripped his sword in both hands. "You bastard…" His breathing became harsh. "You hurt her… I won't let you kill her!" He snarled. "She's always been there for me, and I won't let you take her life!"

Link sprinted forwards like a rabid wolf, howling in rage. The moblin gripped its weapon and stabbed, swerving its body and releasing one hand to push it further, and Link batted it away with his sword and retaliating with a slash at the monsters stomach, but it failed to gut the moblin. The slash was too wild, lacking finesse, the intent of the attack to hurt more than it was to defeat. The moblin hunched over and clutched the new wound, and Link heaved his swords above his head and swung downwards with a furious shout, but the moblin moved its arm from its stomach to bash Link away several meters, but Link relented, roaring as he charged at the monster with his blade at the monsters heart. The moblin caught the sword in the wood of their spear before hitting Link with the butt of the weapon, forcing him to his knees. The moblin spun it's spear around and stabbed at Link, who swung his blade hard, breaking the spearhead of the shaft, sending the metal flying past his face, the sharp edge grazing his cheek and ear, and then drove his sword into the open wound in the moblin's stomach. The monster howled in pain, giving Link a moment to escape, a moment he failed to use, instead twisting the sword. He didn't want the moblin die, he wanted it to suffer. This failure to control his emotions gave the moblin time to recover, which responded by punching Link hard, sending him stumbling, followed a boot to his chest which threw Link on his back, causing the still fresh hole in his back to paralyse him in pain momentarily. Link tried to get up, only for a massive hand to wrap around his throat and slammed him back into the ground before choking him.

The moblin brought him up to it's face and Link tried desperately to escape, kicking and punching the monster to no effect. The moblin seemed amused by his struggles as something flickered in it's eye, something animalistic. Predatorial.

The monster bared its teeth and brought Link close, and in the midst of his pain, Link dully realised that the moblin was going to bite his head off. It hadn't been told how it was supposed to kill him, but eating him would still end with the same result, a dead target. Link tried to pry himself free, crying in fear, but it was pointless, the moblin was too strong. It brought him close and opened its mouth, the smell of rotten meat assaulting Link. Gasping for breath, he clenched his fist and, in a final effort, forced his arm into the moblins mouth and punching the back of it's throat. The moblin recoiled in shock, throwing Link away and slamming him against a nearby tree and stumbling around as the contents of its stomach emptied.

Link gulped down deep breaths of air, eying the monster. He had thrown it off for a moment, but it would recover soon, and it's vengeance would not be swift. His eyes flicked to his sword, lying a few meters away, then to Saria, who's only proof of life being the shivers wracking her body. Esco felt still in his hat, and he knew he was running out of time. Slowly, he began crawling towards his sword, the pain forcing sobs from his body.

The moblin coughed the last of the bile from its throat, then turned to Link with a snarl. I moved over to him slowly, hunched over. Link didn't realise until the monster loomed over him, drooling bile, arms lifted to come crashing down on him, and he raised his own arms to defend himself.

There was a hum in the air as a sliver of light flew out of the darkness and buried itself in the back of the moblin's knee, making the leg suddenly unable to carry the weight of the body. The moblin collapsed to one knee and shrieked in pain. It reached to pull the foreign object from its body and found its hand clasp the hilt of a knife.

"Link, move!"

Link rolled to the side and the moblin began to turn towards the noise, but it was too slow, and Impa drove her spear into the base of the monsters skull with enough force to slam the monster against the ground, and before anyone could tell if the moblin was still alive, Impa brought her foot down onto its neck with a loud crunch, destroying the moblins spine and ensuring it would not get up.

Impa stepped off the corpse and removed her spear before reaching down for her knife, sheathing it, and turning to Link.

"Oh, Goddesses." She whispered.

Link was battered and bruised, and one of his eyes was turning purple. But that wasn't what concerned her or Link. It was Saria.

Link cradled his dying friend, tears streaming down his cheek, hands and clothes soaked in blood, trying desperately to get a response out of her, and all he got was slight, strained breathing.

Impa walked closer and got a better look at her injures. There was a massive hole in her waist, and Impa managed to identify her intestines and liver amongst the twisted mess of flesh. She was ash white, no doubt a result of the pool of blood her body was swimming in.

"Impa…" Link sobbed. "Please, help her."

Impa looked at the boy in the eyes, those blue, wet, naive eyes, and was silent. Then "I cannot."

"Please Impa!"

She shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry, but I cannot."

"But your magic!" He choked. "You can teleport and use magic, just heal her!"

Impa closed her eyes. "Even if I knew healing magic, my power is completely spent. I cannot summon a flicker of magic." She knelt down besides Link. "Besides, even I were the most skilled healer, and I could heal her, completely, without any flaws, she may still die. Replacing the amount of blood she has lost would require a skilled healer alone, without even thinking about reassembling her body." She grimaced at her choice of the word 'reassembling,' knowing it would do little to calm Link, who in turn began to become frantic.

"I- I- I can't let her die Impa!" His voice was shrill.

Impa tried to comfort him, to no avail. "Link…"

"This is my fault, I can't let her suffer what was meant for me!"

"Link-"

"There has to be some way to help her!" He turned to the sheikah, who was silent. "Impa!"

Impa stood up and looked down on Link. "We should get moving."

Link was stunned. "What?"

"We should get moving." Impa repeated softly. "There is nothing we can do."

Link shook his head. "No. No, I refuse to accept that."

"Link, if you want to be a knight-"

"Are you kidding me?!" He shouted. "Are you lecturing me know? How will this help us?!"

Impa remained calm. "Please listen to me." When Link failed to retaliate, she continued. "I have seen countless deaths during my service, from strangers to friends and family. This is what I have learnt. You must remain in control. Of your mind, of your body, of your emotions. You must be able to focus, to push past this horror and prevail. Life is a gift, one should not treat so clumsily. You must do this if you truly want to become a knight." Then, she glared at him. "Now think."

Link swallowed his tears. "Think?"

Impa nodded "Think. You know these woods. You know there secrets?" He nodded. "Tell me, Link, what could heal her?"

Confused, Link shook his head as if to dispel a fog. "I don't know. The Great Deku Tree?"

She shook her head. "Too far away. We'll never making it in time."

He frowned and wiped his eyes, searching his mind for something, anything. Then, a thought, one he would never have considered if the situation wasn't desperate. "A fairy."

Impa nodded. "Yes, I believe a fairy could save. Can we find any in the woods? Is there a fountain?"

"In the Scared Meadow, but we won't be able to make it."

"Can we find fairies, Link?"

Link looked around desperately, when his eyes settled on Impa's spear. "Is that Deku wood?"

Impa lifted the weapon. "From the Great Deku Tree? Yes."

"Give it to me." She handed the weapon over to him. "Did you see any butterflies around?"

Impa tilted her head. "Butterflies?"

"Yes. Did you?"

She nodded. "I believe I did, not too far down the track towards the village."

Link nodded and stood up on shaky feet. "I can get a fairy. Can you keep her alive?"

She nodded. "Give me your hat." He obliged, and Impa set Esco down next to Saria before pressing the cap to the wound, slowing the flow of blood. "Go, quickly."

Link clasped the spear in both hands and, despite his lacking strength, sprinted down the track with incredible speed. Once he was lost from sight Impa let out a sigh of relief. She had been unsure if her treatment was too harsh, but it seemed to have ignited the fire Link needed. As her hands became soaking in more blood, she hoped he would be fast enough.

Hello there my guys

My sugury is all in the past, more or less, and my body is almost back to functioning like it's supposed to. Yay! So I did decide to split this chapter into two, with this being what I completed before the surgery. It's more to give me time to think about the next chapter.

HOWEVER

This does not solve everything. As there is a special something next month. The second anniversary of the Fanfic. And I was hoping that I would be able to finish part 1 by the time that rolled around. I may be able to do that, but who knows.